Thesis Outline due end of Junior Year
CIS majors submit to their advisors and the director a thesis outline at the end of the junior year.These are due by the last day of the spring semester.

The thesis outline should tell an audience of academic non-specialists (that is, CIS majors, faculty advisers, or anyone else at the College) what your thesis will do and why.
The outline document, no more than a page or two (parts A and B together), should include the following:

A. (for a general academic audience)
1. The “thesis of your thesis” as best as you can know that at this point. Answer the question that your readers have: “What is your thesis?”
2. A brief outline of your thesis, including a breakdown by chapters or sections.
[For examples of senior revised outlines, which are due in December of next year, see those here.

B. (for your advisers and for the director)
3. A brief description of several key sources (or experiments, datasets, interviews, etc.) that you know and plan to use.
4. A brief description of any IRB protocols, approvals, etc. necessary for your thesis research. Note explicitly that you have discussed with your advisors the question of IRB relevance to your work.
5. A brief description of your summer plans for research and reading. Include here any grants you have received or that are pending (Dean Rusk, FS&R, HHMI, Abernethy, etc.).
6. List the fall course schedule you have registered for and the schedule you plan for spring. (This must include the required CIS 495 “Thesis” for fall and CIS 496 “Thesis” for spring.)

Proofread carefully. Sign a copy of your outline on paper, under the line that says: “On my honor I have discussed this document and these plans with my CIS advisers.” (if you are abroad, do all of this via e-mail; we’ll accept an email “signature” for now.) Deliver a copy of that to the CIS office by the deadline.